GCSEs 2018 (9) Will we get to half term, for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and who is Banquo

[Stickerrocks]

Thread 8

Korma - DH took a photo of DS outside the front door on his last full day at school before study leave. He's 5'10" and has hair like an alpaca. We have a photo of him outside the same front door on his first day at nursery of his prep school and he has a teeny backpack on that I know as a fact had in it a small pack of raisins, a carton of apple juice and a spare pair of pants!

Sost your dgd sounds adorable - I hope she is managing okay with the pre-exam fear today

Teenmum - did you DD get offered the option of a pc given her unusually slow hand writing - or did she not meet the criteria? Seems a bit unfair that she is disadvantaged in the essay subjects

DD has only have 4 exams left after today too - it almost feels like she has finished, which she hasn't of course. Will have to be careful not to take the foot off the gas pedal too much!

mmzz yikes disembowel...reminds me of the history revision yet to come

I'm think the opposite will occur with ds2 after the English Literature exam. As he never read/reads at all for pleasure he might suddenly find he has the skills to understand text now. He would read it, but it meant nothing to him, now perhaps he will crack the code..he's shown genuine interest in what is going on with some of these poems and empathy into pyschological states!

Lobster I've seen lots of carefree (although they don't realise it of course ) six year olds on school trips passing my house, on the way to the tube, my deepest admiration to you for managing and staying so cheerful!

I've decided cheeriness is going to be my keynote parenting skill from now on, wisdom is a bit outmoded.

Driving back from school drop off, I spotted several girls deep in their flashcards for English Lit, walking along like Johnny Head In the Air, oblivious to traffic and all surroundings...not many boys doing the same though, they seemed to be leaping around in a last attempt to throw off anxious premonitions!

After today DS will have done 12 exams and have 14 left for after half term. We are away at the weekend for a Christian music festival, so no revision for a few days. Then I think it will be all edexcel history, with me saying "don't you think you should do some maths/science" and being totally ignored! I think German will be forgotten completely!

DoNotBringLulu My DS is similar in that he never sees his friends out of school. He has always been fairly happy with his own company unlike his highly social older sister. the other day he totally surprised us all by saying he did want to go to prom. A couple of other boys that he knows (not in his unsocial friendship group) asked him to go with them. Not only that - he is also talking about after prom, which terrifies me as he has never been to teenage party!

DD (year 13) says they have have talked about his friends not ever wanting to meet up, and apparently DS wants to be more social and has been invited to things by these other boys before, but as he doesn't really know the rest of the group hasn't gone as it would be awkward. He has decided that prom is the time to go for it!

Kind of happy and worried at the same time!

Dh took dd out for a meal last night with a work colleague and her little dd (who idolised our dd)

She was in early for a revision session. She had been planning on coming home after the English Lit exam today as there are no vocational classes this afternoon but has just found out there is a music listening revision session 2-4pm so she will stay for that.

cubscout I took Stickerrocks reference to nursing and teaching to mean that her DC knew what those jobs entailed, whilst had no clue about her own. I think we all appreciate the teaching and nursing professions. I only say as I think its very easy to misconstrue peoples posts sometimes (speaks from bitter experience!!)

drinkofwater they sound similar. My ds also going to the prom, which surprised me. It's with a group of 10; he says it's the old Dungeons and Dragons group that he is no longer a part of, for some reason that I can't fathom. And an after party too. Have you got his suit sorted out yet? Enjoy your weekend, I am planning a pub lunch and walk on Saturday, also day to a local wetlands area on Monday. Family also coming for tea on Sunday.

I am hoping the right poems come up today. I helped ds with the unseen poetry; we watch a Mr Bruff video and he suggested working out if the poet is man/woman, contemporary/in the past and work out what was going on at the time, followed by saying what the poem is about, deeper meaning then structure and how meaning is conveyed.

Can't wait to look at the Twitter page to see what was in the paper. All crossed

After half-term we have Music, Maths paper 2 and the 3 sciences paper 2. Only 5 exams left! I think half-term will see the return of music practice. Yesterday we even played a game together. Life slowly returning...
loose your DS has a lot after half-term. Hope he can rest a bit and grab the guitar though.
cherry the unseen can also be prose, can't it?

Exactly the same for dd brainmelt with the addition of English Language.

brainmelt sorry yes, the unseen is a choice between a poem or a piece of prose. DS was adamant he'd do the poem though, and his teacher recommended that too.

DS also never meets up with anyone outside of school though is social in school. being a day boy in a boarding school probably doesn’t help. Although however stressful the exam period has been I think it has actually cemented some new friendships which I’m hoping will carry on into sixth form. He s also built stronger relations with some of the teachers by going to extra sessions and asking for help. Every cloud and all that !!

I was so sad when i saw DS's yearbook messages. Everyone else had in-jokes, or you've been a great friend type comments. The person who was asked to write for DS just described his academic ability.
DS is such a lovely person, but sixteen year olds just look straight through him. It is as though he's invisible. He's going to the prom, but I'm mentally working out where I can pick him up afterwards so that as few people see him on all on his own heading home whilst they all have party invitations.

DS3 will be 9 down today and 10 to go after half term. No IGCSEs so no early papers. He also has AQA history to come, but it's low on his list of priorities. So much to learn for a subject he enjoys but doesn't need to do well in. Essays are not his forte so even if he learnt lots of facts he still might not do that well. So long as he gets a 4 or 5, that will be fine. After today he will have completed 3 subjects.

It's quite a flat end of school, really. Just in for exams after today and not a big fuss made of it. A short leavers' assembly yesterday. The proper farewell will be the prom, I hope, which is after the exams finish.

DS's friends are quite poor at socialising in RL as well. No after party for them! Though he is going to see Deadpool 2 with some of them for one of their birthdays tomorrow. His group are all staying at his current school for sixth form and DS3 is moving on so that will make next year a proper new start. I hope he meets some slightly more sociable people. His current friends are all lovely boys but all seem glued to their PCs.

I also think stickerrocks was just saying that it's hard for school children to understand jobs out of their experience, rather than saying those jobs were less worthy!

My DS doesn't get anything to mark the end of year 11. No leavers book, hoody, prom, assembly. He's not bothered though.

Sorry if misconstrued Stickerrocks! Like us all I'm a bit overwrought and also suffering the general public sector bashing that we get.

I have fingers and toes crossed since 9 am as no sickbag this morning but trembling lips and silent tears. My heart nearly broke as her face took me back to times when she was very little and would fall and scrape her knees and try hard not to cry. Got to say she got a huge hug a d when she went pup had to lick my tears from my face

Just 12 to go after half term finishes on the 15th June. Thank goodness!

Another 25 minutes to go ( sigh)

Commiserations to families whose DC still have so many exams to go! It really is a long slog for everyone them!

DD (thankfully) relieved with her final English lit paper - she did laugh when she saw there was one question on Banquo and remembered me showing her the 'who the heck is Banquo?' quote. She chose the other option about how Shakespeare made an extract from Act 5 'powerfully dramatic'. 15 down and only 4 to go (Spanish and Music listening) - will be hard to keep the momentum going as 3 are on one day in over a week's time.

Any tips as to how to support when the time pressure if off?? I'd be so grateful!

mmzz he will find his tribe soon enough, and his peers will start to appreciate him more as they mature

adrinkofwater which festival? DS1 has been to Greenbelt a couple of times

DonotbringLulu DS2's friends are the ones he plays D&D with still!

brainmelt thanks - your DS has been working so hard up to the break, I hope he can relax now! It goes without saying I'll be hearing a lot of guitar noise over half term...

mmzz respecting his academic ability is very positive too! I know my dcs often admire people who are "smart" and they don't forget that aspect of them, it is actually cool to be smart and do well academically, although you might not think so...most pupils are just nervous of not being smart themselves

please will someone tell me what the poem is, because ds2 has extra time so I won't know for AGES...

I've planted up several sunflower seedlings and done lots of gardening to take my mind off the whole thing...

DS2 has now done more than half of his exams.

The good thing is that the ones after half term are more spaced out.

The bad thing is that they go on until 21 June,. By the end of that last week the 'novelty' of GCSE exams will very much have worn off.

I'm interested to find out:
What the given poem was for Power & Conflict
What the questions were for Lord of the Flies